Every year, the Pew Research Centre in the United States reviews its research, selecting the most memorable facts which illustrate important trends shaping our world.
Topics range from the specific subjects of video gaming and family caregivers to broader areas like political attitudes, global climate change and religious affiliation. Here are some of the 15 most striking trends the Centre discovered in 2015:

Islam will grow faster than any other major religion in the world over the next four decades, according to he Centre’s religious projections.

The other night we were sitting on a porch at another 60th birthday. These days the Big One is almost as common as that other rite of passage, funerals. It’s as if we party one minute and exit the next. On this warm night the other hallmark of our age was that we were sitting. In another room ’60s rock beckoned, reminding us that once, it was only the old folks who sat and watched while we danced…

Just look at this street art – roses in Iran, Dali in Philadelphia. Any similarly stunning parallels here? Nope. In short we haven’t even picked up our paint brushes yet and we should if these two amazing transformations of concrete into colour show.

First they came for the trees. Then for the gracious houses and generous back lawns. And finally they came for what belonged to us – our reserves and if they could get their hands on it, some juicy parkland.

That’s been the political trajectory of this Government’s changes to the Resource Management Act and none of it is pretty, especially when it’s so blatantly a pay-off for developers.

We boomed when the guns fell silent in World War II. And we’ve been heard and felt ever since. Relatively few countries experienced the phenomenon of the Baby Boom and the countries that did – Australia, the United States, Canada, England and New Zealand, shared a number of social and cultural features.

Saw someone suspicious on my morning walk today. I mean, who wears a red towel wrapped around their head for goodness sake – nobody I know. Had a woman with him and she laughs just that little bit too much. Sure sign something’s up. She might be one of his harem. Could be his sex slave – could be his hostage! So I did the only decent thing – called 111.